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President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama.
- In a new interview with The Hill, President Donald Trump made an unfounded claim that former President Barack Obama was not endorsing his former vice president in the 2020 US presidential election for reasons unknown to the public.
- "There has to be some reason why he's not endorsing him," Trump claimed in an interview with The Hill. "He was the vice president. They seemed to have gotten along. And how President Obama is not endorsing him is rather a big secret."
- Obama's spokeswoman spoke highly of Biden's tenure but stopped short of a formal endorsement after he announced he was running in April.
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President Donald Trump made an unfounded claim that former President Barack Obama was not endorsing his former vice president in the 2020 US presidential election for reasons unknown to the public.
"There has to be some reason why he's not endorsing him," Trump said in an interview with The Hill. "He was the vice president. They seemed to have gotten along. And how President Obama is not endorsing him is rather a big secret."
Obama's spokeswoman spoke highly of Biden's tenure but stopped short of a formal endorsement after he announced he was running in April.
"President Obama has long said that selecting Joe Biden as his running mate in 2008 was one of the best decisions he ever made," Obama spokesperson Katie Hill said in a statement. "He relied on the Vice President's knowledge, insight, and judgment throughout both campaigns and the entire presidency. The two forged a special bond over the last 10 years and remain close today."
Biden later said he asked Obama not to endorse him: "I asked President Obama not to endorse," Biden said at the time. "And he doesn't want to - whoever wins this nomination should win it on their own merits."
Trump said he did not believe Biden's statement and speculated that there was an ulterior motive for Obama's silence.
"And then he goes and lies and said 'I asked the president not to endorse me,'" Trump said to The Hill. "Give me a break."
Trump also snuck in some shots against Biden, who currently leads the 2020 Democratic field, according to numerous election polls.
"I think he can only go down," Trump said to The Hill. "I don't think he's going up. Look, there's something different. He's a different person than he was four or five years ago, and he wasn't so hot four or five years ago."
Biden has faced numerous obstacles in the weeks leading up to the first Democratic debate in Miami. Last week, he was widely criticized for his comments about his work with the late Democratic Sens. James Eastland of Mississippi and Herman Talmadge of Georgia - both of whom were opposed to desegregation - in an effort to counter critics who called him "old-fashioned" and to explain the importance of finding a common ground to push legislation.